Why employees want better work/life balance

Almost two thirds (56 per cent) of employees are willing to accept a lower paid job in exchange for a better work-life balance, a study has found.

The 2023 Salary & Recruiting Trends report by Hays, which looked at data from more than 5,000 employers and 8,000-plus professionals, found that a third (33 per cent) of workers consider work-life balance to be the most crucial consideration when looking for a job.

Additionally, the report revealed that two fifths (41 per cent) of employees believe having varied working hours would make maintaining a healthy work-life balance easier. 

Gethin Nadin, psychologist and chief innovation officer at Benefex, said the pandemic gave many workers a chance to reflect on how they spent their time and that managing their lives became much easier when people had control over where and when they worked. “This research and others like it continue to suggest to employers that those willing to be more flexible with their people will become the more desirable employers,” he said.

“One of the most-evidenced ways to improve employee wellbeing is to give them more autonomy, flexibility and work-life balance. Seeing this now rank so highly on a lot of employees' wishlists is encouraging.”

The majority (83 per cent) of employees said their work-life balance had either improved or remained the same during the preceding 12 months. But half (50 per cent) were seeking jobs with a higher level of hybrid working, while a quarter (24 per cent) wanted fully remote positions. 

My role at Vitality360 is the first one I have had where I have been able to work flexibly from home. The company is actually entirely remote in so far as there are no offices and everyone works from home from locations dotted the length and breadth of the country. This was a great benefit when the pandemic hit as we were already set up remotely and didn’t have to scramble like some companies did to get their business safely on line. I met a taxi driver recently who said at the start of the pandemic he spent many journeys taking lap tops to people in their homes on behalf of companies.

Initially I wasn’t sure whether the lack of real time, face to face encounters would be detrimental especially in terms of having a sense of a team and I have been continually surprised how little impact this actually has. We do make sure we have regular opportunities to meet as this is important and despite this lack of daily encounters from an office environment the team here is one of the most friendly and cohesive that I have been part of.

The benefits to me personally of being able to work remotely and flexibly within that have been manifold. I have a chronic fatigue health condition so managing my activity levels and environment has been crucial in enabling me to sustain work. I believe it is something that employers need to give serious consideration to in the face of a workforce where fatigue related health conditions can cause significant issues, for example with productivity or reliability. Burnout (which is what happened to me thereby triggering a long term fatigue condition) is a real concern and one that needs to be taken into consideration in any workforce. Poor work life balance is a massive factor in contributing to the likelihood of burnout of course. Remote and flexible working can be useful tools to negotiate with an employee who is having trouble sustaining work so that they can be retained and be supported to continue to offer their capabilities in their role.

Employers need to have an open conversation with their employees about what that flexibility might look like and how it will be managed on both sides. . Working remotely means that I can manage my environment and levels of interaction to support my health. Working flexibly means that I can work for a morning and then rest in the afternoon and then continue into the evening. Without these two things, I would not be able to sustain work and I am grateful to Vitality360 for their vision and wisdom in pioneering such an approach to employee relations.

By Katherine Sewell, Business Development, HR & Compliance Manager